System Number: 02688
Date: 14 February [1894][1]
Author: JW
Place: Paris
Recipient: Sir William Eden[2]
Place: [Paris]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler LB 1/174/2
Document Type: ALcS
Copy
110. Rue du Bac. Paris.
Feb. 14.
My dear Sir William -
I have your Valentine -
You really are magnificent! - and have scored all round -
I can only hope that the little picture[3] will prove, even slightly worthy of all of us - and I rely upon Lady Eden[4]'s amiable promise to let me add the few last touches we know of - She has been so courageous and kind all along in doing her part -
With best wishes again for your journey
Very faithfully
J. Mc.Neill Whistler
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Notes:
1. 14 February [1894]
This is a reply to Eden's previous letter (#02687) which JW copied on the same page of this letterbook.
2. Sir William Eden
Sir William Eden (1849-1915), painter and collector [more].
3. the little picture
Brown and Gold: Portrait of Lady Eden (YMSM 408), a portrait of Eden's wife. Although Eden had sent him a cheque, JW was dissatisfied with his work and refused to hand it over, believing it was the artist's right to withhold a picture in such circumstances. When Eden instituted legal proceedings against him in November 1894 in order to retrieve it, JW returned all monies that had been paid to him. However, the dispute dragged on until December 1897 when JW, on appeal, was permitted by the Cour de Cassation in Paris to keep the picture provided that he did not make use of it. In 1899, JW published his account of the affair in Whistler, James McNeill, Eden versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly. A Valentine with a Verdict, Paris and New York, 1899 [GM, A.24].
4. Lady Eden
Lady Sybil Frances Eden (1867-1945), née Grey [more].